India's complex love affair with US

After signing an agreement to recognize India as a nuclear power, and gaining India's promise to allow international inspections of its civilian nuclear power plants, President George W. Bush might be expecting a little Indian love.

Yet if he were to take a walk through the streets of New Delhi - where Wednesday's massive demonstrations by Muslims against the war in Iraq were followed by Communist Party protests Thursday - he might find that many Indians have complicated feelings toward the world's only superpower.

According to the latest opinion poll, conducted last week for the Indian magazine Outlook, two-thirds of respondents say that George Bush is a "friend of India."

But 72 percent say that America is "a bully," and 59 percent believe that India has "compromised on its foreign policy" to become closer to the US.

"It's this unilateral thing that makes people upset; you want everything your way, and as long as the world toes your line, it's fine," says Anand Mahindra, owner of a computer-maintenance company in New Delhi. "But you guys are the ones who used nuclear bombs in Japan. You used chemical weapons in Vietnam. And you're the ones driving all those gas-guzzling cars. You have no moral ground to stand on. Who are you to tell us what to do?"

For all the factors that bind America and India together - democratic traditions, economic ties, military cooperation, and common views on the war on terrorism - President Bush and his counterpart, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, admit that it may take time for the two partners to become close friends.

"We concluded an historic agreement today on nuclear power," Bush told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday. "It's not an easy job for the prime minister to achieve this agreement. I understand. It's not easy for the American president to achieve this agreement."

Using an argument he intends to employ with Congress, Bush insisted that reversing decades of nuclear proliferation policy to allow India to develop its civilian nuclear program is in the interests of American citizens because it will "help take the pressure off the global demand for energy."

"Proliferation is certainly a concern and a part of our discussions and we've got a good-faith gesture by the Indian government that I'll be able to take to the Congress," Bush said.

Now that India has agreed to allow inspections of its civilian power plants, Mr. Singh said, it's up to the US government to "go to the Congress and make necessary amendments to the laws (on nonproliferation) and approach the Nuclear Suppliers Group for working the deal."

On the plane ride over the Atlantic, National Security adviser Stephen Hadley had told reporters that this trip was larger than any single issue. "What I think you'll see on display is a broadening and deepening of the relationship between the United States and India.... We've become partners on a global level."

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